


No Place for Self-Doubt in Karaoke

by gwynndelous (Eristastic)



Series: SouKisu University AU [7]
Category: Free!
Genre: Banter, Double Dating, I really hope that does mean what I think it means, Karaoke, M/M, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 11:17:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4346552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eristastic/pseuds/gwynndelous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a SouKisu/MakoRin double date at a karaoke place. This stuff writes itself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Place for Self-Doubt in Karaoke

**Author's Note:**

> Get ready for song references. SO many song references (I did research for this one)

“Did…” Makoto seemed like he felt as awkward as he looked, fumbling around with his fingers and very pointedly not looking Sousuke in the eye. “Did…something… _happen_ with Rin and karaoke?”

Sousuke’s blood went cold, but he prided himself on always keeping a straight face so at least there was that comfort in a suddenly sickening flash of guilt.

“Only…” Makoto, the poor innocent soul, went on, “I mentioned that maybe we could go one time, me and him, on a date, but he just sort of froze up and looked me dead in the eye and made me promise never to suggest that again.”

The obligatory wave of guilt over, Sousuke was now struggling not to laugh. Makoto, still tragically oblivious to the whole sorry story, began to fret over him.

“What’s the occasion? Why’s Sou laughing?” Kisumi asked as he came back from the bathroom and casually took his seat cuddled up to Sousuke’s side on the sofa, poking his ribs with a teasing grin. “Come on, what’s up?”

Makoto began to look very embarrassed, but Sousuke saved him from an explanation by managing to laugh out, “Apparently we’ve scarred Rin for life when it comes to karaoke places.”

Kisumi’s eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together. “Oh, the karaoke thing! You found out, did you, Makoto?” He at least had the decency to look vaguely ashamed, but the effort was lost on the still-ignorant Makoto who just became flustered.

“I, um, not really? I just know there’s something wrong with them…but he wouldn’t tell me any more than that, and… _eep!_ ”

Intrigued by the sudden cry, Sousuke and Kisumi looked behind them to see Rin standing in the apartment, holding shopping bags and looking ready to punch a hole in the wall.

Sousuke, as the childhood friend not currently in a relationship with him, had the least to lose (because he pissed Rin off on a semi-weekly basis anyway: it was part of the fun of rooming with him). “Yo, Rin. Didn’t even hear you there.”

“Why are you talking about the karaoke thing?!”

“Makoto brought it up!” Kisumi said happily, ignoring Makoto’s stricken look.

It did the trick, though, and Rin seemed to calm down. Muttering something incomprehensible, he walked into the kitchen to put away the shopping.

“Are you really still so hung over it?” Sousuke called, winding Makoto’s already tense nerves even tighter.

“That’s not the kind of thing you just get over, asshole!”

“Oh come on, Rin!” Kisumi put in, presumably to be helpful but having the exact opposite response. “Even I think you’re exaggerating now: you just caught us-”

“ _Don’t say it!_ ”

Kisumi and Sousuke stared at the kitchen area a moment longer before looking back at each other, shrugging (‘what can you do?’) and going back to reading the magazine Sousuke had open in front of him.

Eventually, to Makoto’s simultaneous relief and heightened stress levels, Rin came through and sat down on the chair across from Makoto. A very heavy non-silence worked itself up in the room between the four men.

After ten minutes or so – enough time for Makoto to calm down and go back to reading his textbook and for Rin to lose the scowl marked on his forehead – Kisumi sighed in that ‘pay attention to me’ way. Everyone did as instructed.

“You know, we never doing anything _together_ anymore. Final exams are over, so why don’t we go out on a double date again?”

There was general agreement to this.

“In that case, I’ve got a great idea!” he said, beaming.

Rin suddenly looked wary.

“Let’s all go karaoke together!”

In the end, even Sousuke wasn’t fast enough to stop Rin hurling a pillow in their direction with murderous intent.

 

Through weeks of wheedling, large amounts of cocktails, and a whole lot of called-in favours, Kisumi eventually got his way (everyone had known he would, in the end, and Sousuke was particularly proud of him for taking less than a month), and one Saturday night found the four of them squeezed into a karaoke room together.

Rin was sulking. He wouldn’t admit to it, but he was hanging off Makoto’s arm and scowling at the world in general, and even Kisumi didn’t try to goad him.

“Just _promise_ me you won’t do it again,” he said, completely out of the blue, as they were figuring out how to work the machine.

“Rin, we’re not going to.” Sousuke was doing his best comforting voice, but it still came out rather gravelly, as if he was trying not to smirk.

“It was a mistake!” Kisumi put in earnestly.

Rin watched them, narrowing his eyes, but eventually relented and sighed deeply, flopping back onto the couch. “Fine. I don’t see why you all wanted to come here anyhow.”

“Karaoke’s fun, Rin!” Makoto said, apparently still believing (after all this time) that if he said enough positive things, they’d eventually rub off onto Rin.

“You only ever sing screamo, though,” Rin pointed out.

“Yeah…? It’s still fun!”

Kisumi immediately lit up, eyes almost glowing in the low lighting. “You sing screamo, Makoto?”

Unaware of the hell he’d unleashed, Makoto nodded cheerfully. “I have kind of a rough voice when it comes to singing, so screamo’s the best for me!”

Kisumi’s eyes glittered. “Oh, I’m going to hear me some of _that_.”

“What the fuck, Kisumi?” Rin growled, clearly not letting the grudge go just yet, pulling the back of Makoto’s shirt so he had to sit down next to him. “Since when do you even find that attractive?”

“I don’t really find it _attractive_ ,” Kisumi clarified, leaning back onto the couch into Sousuke’s outstretched arm, “but picture this,” he put his arms out in front of him emphatically, “the song comes on, Makoto’s got his usual angel-face and smile that could put a thousand suns to shame, he opens his mouth, and then nothing but raucous screaming and demonic chants for three and a half minutes.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it sounds great until you’ve actually seen it.”

“Is it that horrific?” Kisumi said, delighted, and when Rin didn’t deign to answer (looking away with a ‘take a wild guess’ expression on his face) Makoto started to fret again.

“It’s not that bad, is it? Do you hate it, Rin?” his face was the picture of uncontrollable worry.

“Babe.” Rin took Makoto’s face in his hands and appeared to struggle for words for a minute, so he had to start over. “ _Babe_.  Don’t worry about it.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!”

“Alright!” Sousuke barked his way into the romantic tension on the other side of the room, waving the remote control like a baton. “Who want to go first?”

“Makoto does!” Kisumi called out, to Makoto’s dismay. He winked. “It’ll be _fine_ : I’ll cheer you on the whole way!”

“B-but, I mean…”

“Makoto. This is karaoke. There’s no self-doubt when it comes to karaoke. You’ve just got to go and sing your heart out.”

Against all logic, Kisumi’s ludicrous excuse for a pep-talk actually seemed to boost Makoto’s confidence and, with a determined nod, he stepped up, took the microphone and started to flick through the song-book to find one he knew. Once chosen, the number was punched in, and everyone waited with bated breath. Kisumi looked like he was about to explode with happiness.

It was a strange thing that happened that day, in the room filled uncomfortably tightly with couches covered in vaguely reflective material, the karaoke machine’s screen throwing different colours this way and that, and everything imbued with the faint smell of cleaning fluids and snack food. Kisumi had indeed painted a detailed picture of how Makoto’s singing might go down, but in the end, nothing could have prepared him and Sousuke for the reality of it. Rin just resigned himself, not being all that interested in heavy metal.

Looking back on it, Kisumi would describe the scene as magical, even inspiring in just how bizarre it was. To see a man they all knew and loved, known to many as the Team Mom, as the most precious beam of sunlight to ever fall on Earth’s tainted soil, bring a microphone to his lips and suddenly begin to scream hoarsely and with impressive accuracy to a Lost Eden song was, to put it mildly, unnerving. Sousuke would later describe it as an out of body experience, such was the skill and care that Makoto put into each word, each bar, each guttural growl and cry.

But all dreams must end, and, seven minutes of bewilderment later, Makoto put the microphone down, exhilarated and smiling.

“How was it?” he beamed in a chirpy voice that could only be called comforting.

Kisumi and Sousuke looked at each other. “I don’t think I’ve heard that much screaming since I turned the power off at a rave,” Kisumi said eventually.

“Why would you do _that_?”

“I was drunk, it was dark, people kept hitting on me,” he shrugged it off and turned back to Makoto. “But that was…really good. Really unexpected, but really good!”

Makoto grinned, chuckling in an embarrassed way as he sat back down next to Rin, obviously trying very hard not to look over at him expectantly.

Rin put him out of his misery with a pat on his thigh and a smile more charming than you’d expect from a guy who was frequently reduced to a sobbing mess during shoujo anime climaxes. “You sounded good.”

“Really?!” Had there been any in the room, flowers surely would have blossomed at the look on Makoto’s face.

“Rin’s turn next!” Kisumi sung, joyfully ruining all of the romantic atmosphere.

“Since when do you call the shots?!”

“But don’t you want to show Makoto your cool side or something? Sing a ShigancrimsonZ song and go all bedroom eyes? _Or_ ,” his eyes lit up, “go full prince and sing some UtaPri songs. Please. As a personal favour.”

“Kisumi, I don’t owe you a goddamn thing.”

“That’s why it’s a _favour_ , not a _debt_ …”

“I’m not going to do it.”

“Why? You were singing like a washed-up idol desperate for attention last time we came here.”

“Okay, what the _fuck_ -”

Just as Rin looked ready to throw the remote control in Kisumi’s laughing face, a knock came on the door and everyone calmed down instantly into a state of suitable decency to take the drinks they’d ordered.

Once they’d smiled and waved the server out, Rin glowered back in Kisumi’s direction.

“There’s no way in hell I’m singing after _that_ little comment.”

“Aww….get in the spirit of the thing, Rin…”

“You’re a fucking menace, you know that?”

“In bed and out of it.” Kisumi winked, taking a sip of his pink-and-purple cocktail.

“Why does it always come back to sex, with you?!” Rin looked ready to go into another rant when the karaoke machine started playing a new song and he froze.

Sousuke grinned, putting the remote down. Cha-La Head-Cha-La began to boom out of the karaoke machine and Sousuke stood up, stretching a hand out to Rin.

“Ready to get your Super Saiyan on?”

Rin had a curious mix of excitement and resentment on his face, biting at his lip. “Don’t do this to me.”

“Ready to party like we’re in middle school again?”

“Don’t do this to me, man, you know I can’t stop once I’ve started!”

Sousuke, unforgiving and with unprecedented determination on his face, started to sing, eyes locked on Rin’s while Kisumi clapped along. Rin started to twitch.

Sousuke kept singing the first verse intently, clutching his free hand dramatically to his chest with a pained expression, throwing his arm out as if to represent freedom, and just generally putting his heart into it.

In the end, Rin lasted until the second chorus. With a _tch_ and a roll of his eyes, he leapt to his feet, grabbed the second microphone and joined in like the true reason he’d been born into this world was to sing a Dragonball Z opening theme song. He and Sousuke were perfectly synchronised: their voices harmonised, their actions mirrored the other, and they didn’t even once look at the screen to check the lyrics that were rolling on happily by.

They both broke into identical grins (apart from Rin’s shark teeth but some things couldn’t be helped) when the song drew to a close, a far cry from the desperately dramatic expressions they’d been pulling earlier, and Kisumi and Makoto clapped appreciatively.

“That was so _good_!” Kisumi laughed. “How many times have you done that?”

“We had a whole dance routine back in the day,” Sousuke said with a smile, gazing into the distance and remembering days of old as he sat back down.

“What?! I _need_ to see that!”

“No, you don’t.”

“Rin. _Rin_. I’m _begging_ you.”

“You’re having way too much fun with this...I don’t even remember it.”

Kisumi turned hopeful eyes on Sousuke, who just laughed and shook his head, lifting a hand to ruffle Kisumi’s hair. “I don’t remember it either. I’m afraid you’ll have to give up on that dream. But isn’t it your turn to sing something now?”

Kisumi shrugged. “I’m not that good at singing, though. I prefer just teasing you guys.”

“Kisumi, come here for a second: I need to strangle you,” Rin dead-panned.

“You’re so cruel, Rin!” But Kisumi was laughing, then stopped short as an idea came to him. With an uncharacteristically serious face, he looked at Rin. “Let’s sing Snow Halation together.”

Rin took a long swig of his beer, making a show of wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he slammed it down. “Oh, you’re fucking _on_.”

So followed forty minutes of Love Live showdowns (Sousuke and Makoto were roped into judging them). The rules were simple: don’t look at the lyrics, try and out-sing the other in a duet, and you have to put every ounce of spirit you’ve got into it.

Kisumi won, six/five, although there was a ‘small’ amount of dispute over this count, considering that Sousuke steadfastly refused to vote for Rin on the last song, and though Makoto tried his best to be just as supportive of _his_ boyfriend, Kisumi had pretty much blown Rin out of the water in No Brand Girls earlier and his honesty was too strong for him.

“Sou, he _clearly_ fucked up Kira Kira Sensation! You can’t give that one to him!”

Sousuke shrugged. “He had more heart.”

“That’s a fucking lie! Come on, do-over!”

Kisumi smirked, now more than a little drunk with two empty cocktail glasses on the table and a half-finished one in his hand, and took his rightful place on Sousuke’s lap. “Don’t be a sore loser just because you didn’t have enough ~love~, Rin.”

“Kisumi, by the time this is over there is going to be blood on this table and it will not be mine,” Rin said, swaying dangerously until he grabbed said table for support.

Kisumi just stuck his tongue out at him, but before anything could happen, Makoto (the most buzzed of the lot) got to his feet in the line of fire, punched in a song number, and started singing again.

Sousuke would not generally have called Maximum the Hormone a ‘calming’ band, but Rin certainly lost some of the fire in his eyes as he listened, even going so far as to curl up on the couch (an action which, of course, Makoto couldn’t resist, so he ended up doing the impressive multi-tasking of screaming while cuddling).

Drunk Rin seemed mesmerised by it, though, closing his eyes and humming along, and by the time the song was over, they had ten minutes left in the room and everyone felt pacified.

“Do you want to just leave early?” Sousuke offered.

“No…” Kisumi looked him dead in the eyes. “You need to sing a solo now…”

Sousuke decided to humour his demands. “What sort of solo?”

“Like…like…a love…ballad? Maybe…or! Something really slow: that’d go nice with your voice, I think…but nothing too sad! Something really romantic.”

Sousuke nodded, deep in thought, before picking up the remote and searching for a song. “Sakura Nagashi it is.”

“Wait, what.”

It was an excellent rendition, despite Sousuke having to do it with Kisumi sitting on his lap, but Rin and Makoto were getting so clingy over on the other side of the room that he didn’t really feel all that guilty for using his free hand to cup Kisumi’s face and very deliberately singing _to_ him. Needless to say, Kisumi was gulping back tears by the time he got to the end.

“Don’t…” he sniffed, as Sousuke put down the remote and smiled gently at him. “You don’t _ever_ get to say ‘everybody finds love in the end’ to me, okay? I’m gonna _cry_ …”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“No you’re _not_.”

“I’m kind of sorry.” Kisumi pouted at that, so Sousuke brought him into a hug and (despite Rin and Makoto being too interested in each other’s tongues to take any notice of what else was going on in the room) whispered into his ear, “It’s a lot easier to say romantic things when they’re lyrics, so you’d better forgive me for doing it or I won’t get to tell you how much I love you as often as I’d like.”

Kisumi sighed happily. “I guess that’s okay, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've just been adding to this over the past few days when I'm stuck on other projects, so if you were wondering why this has even less plot than usual, that's why.


End file.
